


Project Runway International

by orphan_account



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-07
Updated: 2009-04-07
Packaged: 2017-10-14 09:42:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/147923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All in all, the first season of Project Runway International is currently a great ratings success, though Bravo is still unsure whether a second season would be produced, due to the combined expenses of feeding Italy for several weeks, replacing broken dress forms/sewing machines/sergers/stilettos that fell prey to the various conflicts throughout the season.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Project Runway International

The first season of Project Runway International was perhaps best summed up by a blogger’s description of “the most fabulous trainwreck currently airing on television.”

Italy’s process mostly seemed to consist of flitting around the room, pinning scraps of fabric to his dress form and fiddling with them for extended amounts of time before dashing off to the sewing room in the last few hours of work, and fielding angry phone calls from his brother that seemed to last hours and hours upon end, usually along the lines of, “No, no, Romano! You don’t understand, chiffon is back! …No, of course I wouldn’t try a bias cut on this. You’re being very silly about this, Romano. Well, yes, of course the new Ferragamo shoe collection is fabulous!”

Whenever Tim Gunn came up to him, making a thoughtfully concerned face at the “ah, deconstructed state” of his garment, Italy launched into enthusiastic explanations that involve sweeping gestures and hand motions that illustrate the movement! And the flow! And the passion! And that really didn’t seem to make anything much clearer. Any attempts, however, to get him to clarify using “precise measurements, Italy!” usually resulted in little more than a confused look and more gestures.

Germany was deeply methodical in his approach to all the challenges, sketching out designs like blueprints and hashing out a timetable in order to have his garment finished precisely on time. The shopkeepers at Mood seemed to have become slightly terrified of his appearances in the fabric store, as his approach to fabric shopping seems to involve the same precision usually used in military campaigns—especially when searching for a particular chartreuse hue of satin. Unfortunately, some of the more unorthodox challenges came to be a stumbling block for him, resulting in blustery outbursts such as, “I. I cannot make a proper garment out of cling wrap and tin foil! This is simply ludicrous!” This was usually the point at which Italy swept over, rearranging the precise folds of Germany’s garment because, “Germany, it needs more LIFE! More PASSION! Ahhh, Germany, you really need to get that forehead vein looked at, it can’t be healthy.”

Hungary’s girly, frilly aesthetic was almost cloyingly sweet to most viewers, but this was usually countered by her tendency to pair up frilly crinolines with combat boots; however, by general consensus of the rest of the contestants, her workspace was relocated next to Italy early on, as her previous workspace next to Prussia seemed to result in grievous violence with straight pins. Prussia, incidentally, was removed from the show fairly early despite his enthusiastic competitiveness, largely because most of his sewing time seemed to be occupied by sneaking around the workroom to hack pieces off of Austria’s dress.

Passing almost unnoticed, Sweden hung around until the latter half of the competition, working steadily in the corner of the workroom and producing simple, cute garments with little drama. His conversations with the judges largely ended up going along the lines of “’s a dress,” and “Want’d to make s’mthing that would look nice f’r m’ wife,” though there were often comments from backstage such as “I’M NOT HIS WIFE REALLY.” No one was particularly surprised when Sweden got himself auf’d off the week after Finland, producing a lackluster effort for the pet store challenge.

(After the end of the season, it was found out that the two of them had started a children’s clothing line together under the name of “Special Attack! Bombsquad punks!” Sweden’s only comment on this development was “…m’ wife picked th’ name.”)

America was unfortunately auf’d early on in the show’s run in the challenge where the designers had to construct an outfit out of national foods. Nina Garcia, in the judging process, could only say that “the hamburger brassiere is, quite honestly, in questionable taste.” France went on to win that specific challenge with a creative arrangement of escargot shells—which he expressed as “a foregone conclusion, bien sur! Ah, it’s almost a shame that America managed to pull out something so vulgar—otherwise, I’m sure that the rosbif would have been the one to say au revoir. Really, there is no possible artistry in that slop he calls bangers and mash—“ (The rest of this interview segment was abruptly cut short by England tackling France off-screen.)

Some say that Italy should have won that challenge with his beautifully constructed pasta dress, which had been accentuated by a fresh basil collar and touches of color in the form of tomatoes. The fact remained, however, that the dress was probably not designed to be a mini, and that Italy had to be reminded not to eat his dress until after judging. Fortunately, Italy’s model was very understanding, though Germany came close to what England called “a bloody apoplectic fit.”

Unsurprisingly, the Italy-Germany collaboration in the fifth episode was deeply entertaining for anyone in the workroom. This challenge, perhaps uncoincidentally, also resulted in a bottle of aspirin taking up a permanent spot in Germany’s workspace. However, when it comes down to judging, the collaboration came out with a beautifully constructed, exuberant suitjacket combination that the guest judge could only describe as “tremendously fabulous.”

Ratings notably shot up after this episode, as well—some say the fantastic groups for the challenge were behind this ratings boost, as this episode also produced the ill-fated England-France teamup, their outfit becoming the unfortunate victim of a workroom brawl, while others would say that it was due to Italy jumping into Germany’s arms and kissing him enthusiastically during the judging.

Though England was auf’d a few challenges after as the result of a deeply unfortunate use of tweed, France did stick around the competition, producing dramatic, well-constructed clothing. He was anticipated to end up in the top three before getting voted off for what France described as “a difference in aesthetics, mon cher—you see, I do not think that the spirit of couture and fashion can be properly expressed in such a limited television-driven format, and, as such, I decided to make a post-constructivist statement on these consumer-culture-imposed limits by creating a minimalist expression of beauty that, ‘ow you say, pushes the boundaries of fashion and of clothing.”

The judges maintained that sending a model down the runway with only a silk rose – a very well-constructed silk rose, it must be noted -- covering the essentials did not qualify as “clothing.”

By popular consensus, one of the best episodes of the season came out of the challenge where each designer was asked to produce an outfit for another designer. There was a great deal of confusion in the workroom when Poland unveils his garment for Lithuania for fitting, as Lithuania had understood that the outfit would involve a lot less frills. And ribbons. And skirts. Most of these concerns were quickly dismissed by Poland, waving them off with a “Liet, don’t be silly, you totally have the legs to pull it off!”

The judges were slightly thrown by this design decision and decide to vote Poland off, though Heidi did agree that Lithuania had very nice legs. Numerous fan-forums agreed, arguing that Poland should have placed in the top three for that challenge.

To no one’s great surprise, Germany, Italy, and Russia ended up being the ones to show at Bryant Park, all three of them with great success. Germany showed a highly structured, precisely tailored collection with a nice sense of continuity, with unexpected bursts of color that many attributed to Italy’s influence during the course of the competition. Italy’s collection was highly varied, with exuberant color schemes and flowing dresses with lots of movement. Russia’s collection consisted of highly elaborate looks, most involving layering and fine detailing.

Russia did have to respond to some allegations of having used Lithuania’s help to complete his elaborate collection. Russia’s response was something along the lines of “No, no, we are simply good friends! He is, ah, an inspiration to me, shall we say?” The inquiry ended fairly fast, as Russia was smiling very widely.

All in all, the first season of Project Runway International is currently a great ratings success, though Bravo is still unsure whether a second season would be produced, due to the combined expenses of feeding Italy for several weeks, replacing broken dress forms/sewing machines/sergers/stilettos that fell prey to the various conflicts throughout the season, and protection fees after Russia’s final loss to Italy in the final competition. Italy’s post-show career is one to be followed, especially with rumours of a collaborative collection with Germany, though sources close to Italy vehemently deny that he would “ever be teaming up with that sausage-eating kraut bastard.”


End file.
